Let’s Go Fly a Kite

Relax. Take a deep breath. This too shall pass.

This morning I dropped my daughter off at school just ahead of the stock market opened. I got back into my car at 8:30 central and turned on NPR. The host stated “The DOW is down 170 points at the open”. Following the next short story, the host stated “The DOW is down 270 points.” Regarding a minute later: “The DOW is down 440 points.”

I turned off the radio.

Although some markets remain stronger than stocks — e.g. the domain market — this downturn will affect us all. It’s times like these when you need to think regarding what’s really notable to you.

Sure, I’ve lost almost half of my retirement savings over the past year; much of it in the last few weeks. But this morning I got to drop my beautiful two-year-old daughter off at school, something many dads don’t get to do. I’ll get to pick her up from school, too, which many dads don’t get to do. She’s oblivious to what’s going on in the economy. She doesn’t even know what money is.

And she’s happy.

As hard as it is, that’s part of what we need to do now. Turn off MarketWatch. Don’t visit financial web sites. Watch a movie instead of reading the newspaper.

At the end of the Mary Poppins movie, Mr. Banks gets fired from his banking job. A job that consumed his life. He invites his kids to go fly a kite with him. Mrs. Banks, who is more consumed with fighting for womens’ suffrage than being there for her children, takes her suffrage ribbon and ties it to the kite. The entire family leaves their house and worries behind to go fly a kite.

That’s what I’m going to do this weekend. Go to the park with my family and fly a kite.